Ayrshire Scotland Business News is provided by the Elite Ayrshire Business Circle, an association of some of the top companies in Ayrshire. We publicise our members, and celebrate and report the wealth and rich diversity of entrepreneurial and business excellence that abounds here in Ayrshire, south-west Scotland. For further information e-mail Murdoch@eliteayrshire.com

The Elite Ayrshire Business Circle

Monday, 1 October 2012

South Ayrshire Provost presents £8,000 to Malcolm Sargent House

Young children with cancer have benefited from a donation of £8,000 from South Ayrshire Council who presented a cheque for that amount to Malcolm Sargent House – a specialist respite care centre for kids with cancer.

The money was raised thanks to the outstanding generosity of dozens of families who had cremated a loved one at Masonhill crematorium and then allowed metal implants or prosthetics to be recycled, raising money for children with cancer.

The Council is a member of the UK Crematoria recycling metals scheme, which, with the knowledge and permission from members of a deceased person’s family, recycles left over metals once a cremation has taken place. The process is undertaken with great respect and fully in line with the wishes of family members.

Accepting the cheque on behalf of the charity, Malcolm Sargent House Fundraising Manager May Gilchrist commented: “I am absolutely delighted the Council has chosen Malcolm Sargent House to receive a donation of £8,000 from their UK Crematoria recycling metals scheme, and the amazing generosity of those families involved cannot be overstated.

“This gift will make such a difference to the work we do here at Prestwick offering families who have a child with cancer a brief respite break.

“Earlier in the year thieves stole lead from the roof over the playroom and it is only in the last few months that we have managed to get the surrounding area back to normal. This donation is very much appreciated by all the children, families, volunteers and staff at Malcolm Sargent House.”

Presenting the cheque, Provost Helen Moonie said: “I am very glad to present the sum of £8,000 to Malcolm Sargent House to help with the fantastic work they do for young people with cancer.

"Every day, 10 families are told their child has cancer, and the staff at Malcolm Sargent house offer those children and families a well earned break, helping them to come to terms with what is happening.

“It is a wonderful place where kids with cancer and their families can come and have a holiday by the sea. It costs half a million pounds to run every year and, since it was opened in 1994, it has hosted almost 8,000 families – some tens of thousands of people.”

Provost Moonie concluded: “In making the presentation, I am also mindful of those families and relatives whose kind-hearted generosity made this donation possible.

“I’d like to thank them sincerely for their remarkable strength and courage in thinking about others at what must have been a very difficult and sad time in their own lives.

“It is some small comfort that the money raised by such noble and selfless acts of human kindness will directly benefit very sick young children who urgently need the support and respite care offered by the staff at Malcolm Sargent House.”

South Ayrshire Council is a member of the UK Crematoria recycling metals scheme.

The metals used for implants are special medical grade stainless steel, titanium and cobalt chrome all produced from non-renewable resources.

The Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management (ICCM) identified a means of collecting metals from participating crematoria throughout the UK, including Masonhill and recycling them, raising thousands of pounds for good causes.

South Ayrshire Council only recycles metals with the express consent and full knowledge of family and if this is not obtained these are returned to families or left in the cremated remains.

THE EDITORThe Editor of Ayrshire Scotland Business News is Murdoch MacDonald, a graduate of Magdalene College, Cambridge University, where his journalistic contemporaries included John Simpson, now World Affairs Editor with the BBC, and Alan Rusbridger, Editor of the Guardian. Murdoch MacDonald has been in the public relations industry and a freelance journalist and broadcaster for more than 35 years.He has handled the PR accounts of many top Scottish companies, including Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Life, John Menzies, Kwik-Fit and Barratt Homes.

He has hosted his own family finance programmes - "£s, Pence and Sense" on Radio Forth and "Moneywise" on Scottish Television.He now runs Ayrshire’s top PR consultancy Fame Publicity Services.

Wherever you are in the world, no other public relations consultancy, PR firm or publicity company can offer you a better or more cost-effective worldwide news distribution service, combined with search engine optimisation techniques that will drive customers and qualified sales leads to your company's website.

Murdoch MacDonald is also managing director of the Elite Ayrshire Business Circle, an association of some of the top companies in Ayrshire.Telephone: 01292 281498E-mail: Murdoch@eliteayrshire.com

Murdoch and his wife Lilian (pictured above) have written a book called "Phoenix in a Bottle", describing how they overcame alcoholism and are now, contrary to conventional wisdom, able to drink alcohol responsibly again. "Phoenix in a Bottle" is published by Melrose Books price £16.99 and is now available worldwide.Reviewing the book, eminent American addiction expert Dr Stanton Peele PhD commented:

“Phoenix in a Bottle is a modern version of The Days of Wine and Roses, and tells the true story of how two people who entered a period of desperate drinking stayed with one another in a close loving relationship, and emerged from their alcoholism able to drink responsibly again.

“Both a wonderful love story and a challenge to conventional wisdom about how people can recover from drinking problems, Phoenix in a Bottle gives people hope, and helps them to confront their own demons - alcohol or otherwise.”

And now "Phoenix in a Bottle" has been selected as a set text by a top American university.

“Phoenix in a Bottle” by Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald will now be required reading for all doctoral students in a psychology programme at Alliant International University in San Diego, California.

Alliant International University, headquartered in San Diego and San Francisco, California, was formed in 2001 by the merger of the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) and the United States International University. Alliant has 6 campuses throughout California and also runs programmes in Mexico City, Hong Kong and Tokyo. The California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant is one of the premier psychology schools in the US, and it counts roughly half the licensed clinical psychologists in California as its alumni.

Dr. Gary W. Lawson is Professor of Psychology at CSPP. He says: “I adopted Phoenix in a Bottle because the dilemma this couple struggled with and the questions they ask themselves are like so many others I have encountered in 35 years of clinical experience treating addictions.“However, nowhere in addiction literature have I seen these issues examined and explained as well as Lilian and Murdoch do in Phoenix in a Bottle.“I also recommend Phoenix in a Bottle to many of my patients as well.”

You can buy "Phoenix in a Bottle" by Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald online now direct from Amazon UK (click on book cover image below).